


In Which Tharkay Trusts No one and Granby Doesn't Care

by Sophrederick



Category: Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Genre: Black Powder War, Gen, Granby is protective, Missing Scene, Shovel Talk, Tharkay is suspicious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:48:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25602331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sophrederick/pseuds/Sophrederick
Summary: While crossing the desert, Temeraire attempts to teach Laurence Chinese. Tharkay watches and ponders and listens.
Relationships: Temeraire's Whole Crew
Comments: 8
Kudos: 46
Collections: Temeraire Summer Exchange 2020





	In Which Tharkay Trusts No one and Granby Doesn't Care

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lychee_jelly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lychee_jelly/gifts).



> This is an extra treat for lychee_jelly, for the summer exchange. <3

It was a blessedly clear evening in the Taklamakan, with a breeze speeding the departure of the day’s heat, but not a strong enough wind to throw the sand in everyone’s faces. Tharkay had already fed and hooded his bird for the night, and now sat repairing the newest tear she had made in his clothes.

He could not, would not, trust these men, but it was perhaps not unpleasant to travel with a crew who worked together, down to the child runners. He felt soothed despite himself by the sounds of Temeraire’s crew setting up their camp and laughing amongst themselves. It was, he thought, far preferable to the lonely whistling of the wind and the night.

Not far off, Captain Laurence sat with Temeraire, slogging through his lessons in the Chinese language. Its differences from the Western languages with which he was familiar, made it less like learning a new language and more like learning a whole new mindset. For Temeraire, only two years old, this was not terribly life changing; much that he encountered was still entirely new, so what was one more thing?

For Laurence, it was mentally taxing in a way he could not avoid, and he had more trouble than Temeraire expected or could understand. Thus, as much as Temeraire tried to be patient and supportive of his captain, he was clearly growing confused at Laurence’s lack of progress. Tharkay smiled in a small way to hear his hesitant encouragements, knowing that not everyone possessed his and Temeraire’s innate gift for language. Soon enough, either Laurence would give up (looking less likely with every painful lesson as he kept with it), or Temeraire would realize that humans were really quite slow, and he had signed up for a life in their dull presence. Perhaps Tharkay would have to help him learn to cope with the stupidity of men.

“Roland! Pray come assist Laurence with his characters! It is difficult for me to show him how to draw them with a human hand.” Tharkay watched as Laurence blushed and protested at needing instruction from his runner and was ignored by dragon and child alike. His mended shirt lay forgotten across his lap as he paid half his attention to the domestic scene, and the rest of his mind he allowed to wander.

Temeraire’s raised voice drew Tharkay out of his musings. It seemed Roland had ventured into teasing territory, turning her captain’s embarrassment to shame at his difficulty learning. It was a bit hypocritical, Tharkay pondered, for Temeraire to lecture her about ‘different people learning at different speeds’ and ‘Laurence’s being slow to learn a new language not meaning he was at all stupid or slow’, when he had been obviously struggling with those same thoughts himself.

He supposed the difference was Temeraire’s unwavering admiration of the man, and was actually comforted to see that Roland felt able to tease her captain. It meant she feared no personal or professional recourse from her commanding officer, which said more than all of Temeraire’s compliments combined.

Tharkay heard approaching footsteps, and was unsurprised when it was Lieutenant Granby come to join his observations. Although they were not by any means friendly, Granby was noticeable less cold than the rest of the crew, who expected him to at best lead them across the desert and then run, and at worst make off with their supplies and vanish into the night.

“Captain Laurence seems uncommonly good about taking critique from a child.” Tharkay began, looking at Granby out of the corner of his eyes. “And she seems quite comfortable with him too.”

Granby did not respond at first, seeming to choose how much to reveal carefully. “We left England with another runner, Morgan. He was killed in battle quite soon after we set sail, and it hit Laurence rather hard. I suspect he had never had to write to the parent of a dead ten year old under his command.” He paused, pursed his lips thoughtfully, and continued.

“Laurence is also her first captain. When we go to the corps at age seven, we spend years learning the importance of a crew and a captain. The first crew you serve on is suddenly your whole world, and your first captain can either hang the stars and moon or make your life living hell.” He laughed out a breath.

“Now, Roland? She was born of a dragon captain and raised from birth toward that end. Excidium – her mother’s dragon – has been her other parent. She’s never known anything else, and now she’s traveling the world with a man who showed her respect before he knew anything about her, and continues to do so. Of course she’s uncommonly devoted, and of course he is now uncommonly attentive to the other children in his care.” He held out his mug of tea in a wordless one man toast and sipped, having said his piece.

Tharkay studied Granby’s wry smile and soft gaze, and suspected Roland was not the only member of Temeraire’s crew to be uncommonly devoted to his captain. He said as much, expecting a stronger reaction than the one he received.

“I hated him at first, you know that? Stuck up navy man, comes in strutting about like he owns the place. But he doesn’t expect anything of us he doesn’t expect of himself, and it. It makes you want to perform, to be worthy of his regard, to live up to his standards. He saw the best in me even when I was an ass to him. Add that to the fact that, as his Lieutenant, my job is to see to his well-being, and well. Maybe I’m a bit protective of him too.” Granby’s face hardened as if to intimidate, although how Tharkay could be intimidated by a lanky boy of twenty two was anyone’s guess.

“I’m guessing this is the part where you threaten me with bodily harm should I lead him astray or disappoint him? I have nothing to gain by garnering the wrath of a Celestial dragon, and Captain Laurence would have to have a good opinion of me, in order to lose it in disappointment. So you may rest assured on both counts.” Nice as it was to travel as part of a crew and have more than his bird for conversation, Tharkay knew better to grow attached to those who had not earned it. Thus far, Laurence had proven himself worthy only of not being abandoned in the desert, which was still more than many.

Granby furrowed his brow in confusion. “Well, he certainly has no bad opinion of you either, and I suspect it would take only a very little nudging for him to develop a good one.” He gave Tharkay a look which was presumably meant to communicate something, though Tharkay had not the faintest idea what. To disguise this, he stared at Granby impassively and went back to watching Temeraire draw in the sand as small as he was able.

Granby rolled his eyes and huffed, then left to make sure the rest of the men were properly set up for the night. It seemed he, too, was walking the line between good opinion and bad. Refreshing though it was to be in the presence of Englishmen who did not immediately mistrust him, Tharkay knew that would only make it more painful when they eventually turned their backs on him.

It was, Tharkay decided, time to help them reveal their true colors. But maybe tomorrow, when Temeraire’s crew wasn’t singing and Captain Laurence wasn’t overacting for the amusement of his runners. Plotting could wait, he thought, as he closed his eyes and relaxed into the sand.


End file.
